What to Do When Bugs Infest the Beehive? Common Prevention and Treatment Methods Used by Beekeepers

Anyone who has kept bees knows that during the honey-making period, bees can develop bugs due to various factors, and some of these bugs are not necessarily wax moths, so you need to deal with them promptly when they appear. So what should you do when bugs infest the beehive?

Method 1: Deal with the honeycomb

If maggots have already been found in our beehive, it means the wax moths have already spread out of control. In this case, none of the combs in our entire beehive should be used, because the comb may already have wax moth larvae on it, so for the comb, the best approach is to render all of it into wax.

Method 2: Dealing with the cover cloth and the comb frames

For the cover cloth, the method is relatively simple: boil it directly in salt water, then rinse it several times with clean water, and let it dry for later use.

Method 3: Dealing with the beehive, the outer cover, and the inner cover

The beehive, the outer cover, and the inner cover are all fairly thick and can easily withstand high temperatures. If we can boil them at high temperature, we can use the method above: boil them in salt water, then wash them clean for later use. When boiling, first use a hive tool to thoroughly clean out all the maggots from the cracks in the beehive.

If we do not have a container that big, or do not want to take the beehive apart to steam and boil it, we can use a flame torch to scorch it. The method is still to first scrape the dirt off the surface of the beehive clean, then use a flame torch to scorch it all over. When scorching, be careful not to burn the beehive.

In actual beekeeping, many of us may not have a torch, so we can use a fire. First get rid of the dirt in the beehive, then build a fire, hold the beehive over the flames to roast it, and also scorch the comb frames and the outer cover. This way you can thoroughly kill the maggots left inside the beehive.